Police seize £160m of cocaine in luxury yacht raid as six arrested
11 September 2021, 08:00
Police seize £120m from luxury yacht
Police have arrested six men off the coast of Plymouth after seizing £160 million-worth of cocaine from a luxury yacht.
A British man and five Nicaraguans were detained on a Jamaican-flagged vessel 80 miles out at sea, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
Officers seized two tonnes of cocaine as part of an operation which included the Australian Federal Police and Border Force.
The men, aged between 24 and 49, were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and remained in custody for interviews.
NCA deputy director Matt Horne said: "There's no doubt these drugs would have been sold on into communities across the UK in such ways as County Lines fuelling more crime and misery.
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"Organised crime groups (OCG) are motivated by money. The deprivation of these drugs will smash a hole in the OCG's plans and ability to operate.
"Also, the arrests of the men transporting the drugs means the crime group has lost trusted offenders who would have been key to their operation.
"We continue to work with partners at home such as Border Force and those abroad such as the AFP to protect the public from the Class A drugs threat."
